century Islamic lands, was born in Tus, in 1201 and died in Baghdad in
1274. He was apparently born into a Twelver Shi'i family. At the age
of twenty-two or a while later, Tusi joined the court of Nasir al-Din
Muhtashim, the Ismaili governor of Quhistan, Northeast Iran, where he
was accepted into the Ismaili community as a novice.Around 634/1236,
we find Tusi in Alamut, the centre of Nizari Ismaili government. He
seems to have climbed the ranks of the Ismaili da'wat ascending to the
position of chief missionary (da'i al-du'at). The collapse of Ismaili
political power and the massacre of the Ismaili population, during the
Mongol invasion, left no choice for Tusi except the exhibition of some
sort of affiliation to Twelver Shi'ism and denouncing his Ismaili
allegiances (taqiyya).
In the Mongol court, Tusi witnessed the fall of the 'Abbasid caliphate
and after a while, securing the trust of Hulegu, the Mongol chief, he
was given the full authority of administering the finances of
religious foundations (awqaf). The ensemble of Tusi's writings amounts
to approximately 165 titles on a wide variety of subjects (astronomy,
ethics, history, jurisprudence, logic, mathematics, medicine,
philosophy, theology, poetry and the popular sciences).
Nasir al-Din Tusi, Muhammad b. Muhammad b. Hasan, by far the most
celebrated scholar of the 7th/13th century Islamic lands was born in
Tus, in 597/1201 and died in Baghdad on 18 Dhu'l Hijja 672/25 June,
1274. Thomas Aquinas and Roger Bacon were his contemporaries in the
West. Very little is known about his childhood and early education,
apart from what he writes in his autobiography, Contemplation and
Action (Sayr wa suluk).
He was apparently born into a Twelver Shi'i family and lost his father
at a young age. Fulfilling the wish of his father, the young Muhammad
took learning and scholarship very seriously and travelled far and
wide to attend the lectures of renowned scholars and 'acquire the
knowledge which guides people to the happiness of the next world.' As
a young boy, Tusi studied mathematics with Kamal al-Diin Hasib about
whom we have no authentic knowledge. In Nishabur he met Farid al-Din
'Attar, the legendary Sufi master who was later killed in the hand of
Mongol invaders and attended the lectures of Qutb al-Din Misri and
Farid al-Din Damad. In Mawsil he studied mathematics and astronomy
with Kamal al-Din Yunus (d. 639/1242). Later on he corresponded with
Qaysari, the son-in-law of Ibn al-'Arabi, and it seems that mysticism,
as propagated by Sufi masters of his time, was not appealing to his
mind and once the occasion was suitable, he composed his own manual of
philosophical Sufism in the form of a small booklet entitled The
Attributes of the Illustrious (Awsaf al-ashraf).
His ability and talent in learning enabled Tusi to master a number
disciplines in a relatively short period. At the time when educational
priorities leaned towards the religious sciences, especially in his
own family who were associated with the Twelver Shi'i clergy, Tusi
seems to have shown great interest for mathematics, astronomy and the
intellectual sciences. At the age of twenty-two or a while later, Tusi
joined the court of Nasir al-Din Muhtashim, the Ismaili governor of
Quhistan, Northeast Iran, where he was accepted into the Ismaili
community as a novice (mustajib). A sign of close personal
relationship with Muhtashim's family is to be seen in the dedication
of a number of his scholarly works such as Akhlaq-i Nasiri and
Akhlaq-i Muhtashimi to Nasir al-Din himself and Risala-yi Mu'iniyya to
his son Mu'in al-Din.
Around 634/1236, we find Tusi in Alamut, the centre of Nizari Ismaili
government. The scholarly achievements of Tusi in the compilation of
Akhlaq-i Nasiri in 633/1235, seems to, amongst other factors, have
paved the way for this move which was a great honour and opportunity
for a scholar of his calibre, especially since Alamut was the seat of
the Ismaili imam and housed the most important library in the Ismaili
state.
In Alamut, apart from teaching, editing, dictating and compiling
scholarly works, Tusi seems to have climbed the ranks of the Ismaili
da'wat ascending to the position of chief missionary (da'i al-du'at).
Through constant visits with scholars and tireless correspondences, a
practice which he developed from a very young age, Tusi kept his
contact with the academic world outside Ismaili circles and was
addressed as 'the scholar' (al-muhaqiq) from a very early period in
his life.
The Mongol invasion and the turmoil they caused in the eastern Islamic
territories hardly left the life of any of its citizens untouched. The
collapse of Ismaili political power and the massacre of the Ismaili
population, who were a serious threat to the Mongols, left no choice
for Tusi except the exhibition of some sort of affiliation to Twelver
Shi'ism and denouncing his Ismaili allegiances.
Although under Mongol domination, Tusi's allegiance to any particular
community or persuasion could not have been of any particular
importance, the process itself paved the ground for Tusi to write on
various aspects of Shi'ism, both from Ismaili and Twelver Shi'i
viewpoints, with scholarly vigour and enthusiasm. The most famous of
his Ismaili compilations are Rawda-yi taslim, Sayr wa suluk, Tawalla
wa tabarra, Akhlaq-i Muhtashimi and Matlub al-mu'minin. Tajrid
al-i'tiqad, al-Risala fi'l-imama and Fusul-i Nasiriyya are among his
works dedicated to Twelver Shi'ism.
In the Mongol court, Tusi witnessed the fall of the 'Abbasid caliphate
and after a while, securing the trust of Hulegu, the Mongol chief, he
was given the full authority of administering the finances of
religious foundations (awqaf). During this period of his life, Tusi's
main concern was combating Mongol savagery, saving the life of
innocent scholars and the establishment of one of the most important
centres of learning in Maragha, Northwest Iran. The compilation of
Musari'at al-musari;, the Awsaf al-ashraf and Talkis al-muhassal are
the scholarly writings of Tusi in the final years of his life.
The ensemble of Tusi's writings amounts to approximately 165 titles on
a wide variety of subjects. Some of them are simply a page or even
half a page, but the majority with few exceptions, are well prepared
scholarly works on astronomy, ethics, history, jurisprudence, logic,
mathematics, medicine, philosophy, theology, poetry and the popular
sciences. Tusi's fame in his own lifetime guaranteed the survival of
almost all of his scholarly output. The adverse effect of his fame is
also the attribution of a number of works which neither match his
style nor has the quality of his writings.
Tusi's major works: (1) Astronomy: al-Tadhkira fi 'ilm al-hay'a; Zij
Ilkhani; Risala-yi Mu'iniyya and its commentary. (2) Ethics:
Gushayish-nama; Akhlaq-i Muhtashami; Akhlaq-i Nasiri, 'Deliberation
22' in Rawda-yi taslim and a Persian translation of Ibn Muqaffa''s
al-Adab al-wajiz. (3) History: Fath-i Baghdad which appears as an
appendix to Tarikh-i Jahan-gushay of Juwayni (London, 1912-27), vol.
3, pp. 280-92. (4) Jurisprudence: Jawahir al-fara'id. (5) Logic: Asas
al-iqtibas. (6) Mathematics: Revision of Ptolemy's Almagest; the
epistles of Theodosius, Hypsicles, Autolucus, Aristarchus, Archimedes,
Menelaus, Thabit b. Qurra and Banu Musa. (7) Medicine: Ta'liqa bar
qunun-i Ibn Sina and his correspondences with Qutb al-Din Shirazi and
Katiban Qazwini. (8) Philosophy: refutation of al-Shahrastani in
Musara'at al-musari'; his commentary on Ibn Sina's al-Isharat
wa'l-tanbihat which took him almost 20 years to complete; his
autobiography Sayr wa suluk; Rawda-yi taslim and Tawalla wa tabarra.
(9) Theology: Aghaz wa anjam; Risala fi al-imama and Talkhis
al-muhassal and (10) Poetry: Mi'yar al-ash'ar.
References and Further Reading
* Badakhchani, S. J. Contemplation and Action: The Spiritual
Autobiography of a Muslim Scholar (London, I. B. Tauris in association
with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 1998).
* Mudarris Radawi, Muhammad. Ahwal wa athar-i Abu Ja'far Muhammad
b. Muhammad b. Hasan al-Tusi. Tehran, Intisharat-i Danishgah-i Tehran,
1345s/1975.
* Mudarrisi Zanjani, Muhammad. Sargudhasht wa 'aqa'id-i falsafi-yi
Khwaja Nasir al-Din Tusi. Tehran, Intisharat-i Danishgah-i Tehran,
1363s/1984.
* Madelung, Wilferd. 'Nasir al-Din Tusi's Ethics Between
Philosophy, Shi'ism and Sufism,' in Ethics in Islam, ed. R. G.
Hovannisian, Malibu, CA, 1985, pp. 85-101.
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